Items tagged with CES2013

Although Xi3 made CES headlines for other things this week, the company has some tasty wares to show off in the form of its unique modular computers, and we got a firsthand look. There are just a handful of models in the lineup thus far, but despite their small size, these machines pack a wallop. The X7A is the highest end unit in the group and should offer dual- or quad-core APUs (up to the 3.2GHz R-464L) with up to HD 7660G graphics (supporting a max resolution of 4096x2160) and 384 programmable cores. What sets Xi3’s computers apart is the modularity of the devices. Essentially, the motherboard...Read more...

Although Canonical is still hunting for OEM partners to develop handsets for Ubuntu on smartphones, the OS is alive and well, running smooth and pretty on prototype handsets at CES 2013. The Canonical folks were kind enough to give us a demo, which you can see below: Note in particular the lack of any hardware button on this device; that’s on purpose, as Canonical wants Ubuntu to be a touch-only affair. Because there are no hardware partners on board yet (that we know of), the best we can do on specs is what Canonical says will be basic system requirements for entry-level and high-end phones....Read more...

Gigabyte gave us a tour of its new laptops, tablets, and everything in-between this week in Las Vegas. As with all of the big names at CES, Gigabyte is serious about getting touch screens on most devices running Windows 8 (with the exception of some of its heavy-duty gamer laptops - and even those will likely have touch down the road). One standout is the new Gigabyte S1185 tablet, which has an 11.6-inch full HD IPS display. Forget RT for this baby - the S1185 runs true Windows 8 on a third-gen Intel Core processor. Pair the tablet with the magnetic keyboard, and you...Read more...

We spent some time with representatives from Intel at the Consumer Electronics show and saw a couple of interesting demos in action. In addition to announcing that 7W Ivy Bridge-based processors are coming down the pipeline, Intel was touting the low power characteristics and efficiency of its current Clover Trail Atom processors, which are featured in a number of Windows 8 tablets. Intel is on a mission to rebut the notion that ARM-based processors are more power efficient than Intel’s. In one demo, Intel had wired up a number of sensors to the batteries on a quartet of tablets to monitor...Read more...

We took a close-up gander at some of MSI's new laptops this week at CES and two caught our eye. The MSI GT70 Dragon Edition is turning heads (and snagged a CES Innovations award) for its bright-red chassis, which sports dragon engravings. The $2699 system has a 17.3-inch, 1920x1080 screen and boasts an Intel Core i7-3630QM processor. Other features to note include Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M graphics, as well as Killer technology for wireless (N1202) and LAN (E2200). Another standout is the MSI Quadro Workstation which is targeted at business users and students involved in 3D design and animation....Read more...

It's easy to see why T-Mobile USA appointed John Legere as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of its business unit back in September of last year. He's a charismatic dude, and if T-Mobile didn't snag him, Comedy Central might have. That's the impression you get after listening to him lambast AT&T and other wireless competitors. Legere didn't pull many punches at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, calling AT&T's 3G network "crap" before laying into Sprint and Verizon. "Does anyone use AT&T in New York City?," Legere asked the audience at CES, according to PCMag.com "Is anyone...Read more...

Plenty of folks thought that Razer was blowing smoke when it announced that it was developing a high end gaming tablet, dubbed Project Fiona, at last year’s CES. A year later, lo and behold, the company has a whole booth full of them at CES 2013. And the device is gorgeous. After garnering loads of input from actual PC gamers, Razer put together what is, in the most basic sense, a 10.1-inch tablet, albeit one loaded with high-end hardware and also essentially a Windows 8 PC and a portable gaming console, all wrapped up in one device. There are two models slated for release in Q1, with the...Read more...

While at MSI’s suite today, we had the chance to get some hands on time with the company’s latest ultrabook convertible, the Slider S20. Announced late last week, this ultrabook is set to be available later this month with a price tag of $1,199.99. Key specifications and features include Windows 8 along with an Intel Core i5 processor, 1920x1080 HD IPS 10-point touchscreen, 8GB of DDR3 memory, and a 128GB SSD. This ultrabook weighs in at 2.2 pounds and measures less than 1 inch thick. As you’ll see in the video below, the Slider S20 has two USB 3.0 ports, miniHDMI, headphone,...Read more...

Tough tablets? Panasonic's got a couple of new ones to introduce at CES 2013. The Toughpad line of enterprise-grade tablets is gaining new models this week: the Toughpad FZ-G1 (a 10" tablet running Windows 8 Pro) and the Toughpad JT-B1 (a 7" Android-powered unit). Both of them follow the original 10" Android-powered Toughpad FZ-A1 which became broadly available late last year. Toughpad tablets are designed for mission-critical and highly mobile workers in fields such as the military, construction, healthcare, public safety, utilities, retail, maintenance, supply chain logistics and insurance. Perhaps...Read more...

Earlier, we came across a hot item about Valve and their rumored Steam Box gaming console. Word came out that modular PC maker Xi3 was Valve’s hardware partner on the project and was showing off the result, a beautifully designed computer called the Piston. However, when we eagerly scooted over to Valve’s booth here at CES 2013 in Las Vegas, they told us that the story simply was not true. According to Valve, there are several--potential--hardware partners, and in fact that’s pretty much all Valve’s booth is for at CES; press wasn’t allowed in. When we pushed a bit...Read more...

NVIDIA made some serious noise and surprised just about everyone in attendance a couple of days before the official opening of this year's Consumer Electronics Show, with the company’s official unveiling of its next-gen Tegra 4 SoC and a portable gaming device, code-named "Project SHIELD." We posted details regarding Tegra 4 and SHIELD late Sunday night and we’d suggest checking out this post for some additional information, photos, and specifications. Today we got a chance to see SHEILD up-close and personal in a closed-door meeting with some representatives from NVIDIA. Take...Read more...

Just when you thought that tablet resolutions couldn't get any more ridiculous, here comes Panasonic with the unveiling of a 4K resolution model. Yes, 4K. But that's not all that makes this tablet unique: it comes in at a staggering 20-inches in size. Clearly, this isn't meant to be something you toss into your backpack and use while on the go. Instead, it seems obvious that Panasonic's intentions here are to give designers, photographers and perhaps developers huge space to work with. As you can see in the below shot, the Start screen in Windows 8 looks almost scrawny. While the exact resolution...Read more...

A humorous thing about CES is that every year, there's always a couple of buzzwords that you can't ignore. "3D" has been a big one in recent years, as has been "cloud", "ultrabooks", "superphones' and so on. This year, a major buzzword is one that really caught fire throughout 2012: "4K". We're of course talking about display resolutions here, though exactly how it's used varies. While true 4K displays are going to take a while to catch on due to their cost (we are talking ~8 million pixels+, after all), some companies have found ways to use the buzzword elsewhere, such as GIGABYTE. At CES, the...Read more...

For the past several months, the Internet has been flush with rumors about a so-called Steam Box that has the potential to revolutionize PC gaming. Such things have an unfortunate way of disappearing into a place called VaporwareVille (the only "Ville" not owned by Zynga), but lest you fear the same fate awaits the Steam Box, check out what showed up at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. A company called Xi3 showed up with a modular computer codenamed "Piston," which Valve and Xi3 confirmed is a "computer game system optimized for Steam gameplay." In other words, this is the Steam...Read more...